YEKATIT 12 MONUMENT

Yekatit 12 means "February 19th" in Amharic. Known as the Martyrs' Monument or Sidist Kilo, like the district around it, the obelisk is a memorial to the Graziani massacre carried out by the Italians during the occupation in 1937. It pays tribute to all the resistance fighters and heroes of that war. After the 1945 armistice, Haile Selassie laid a wreath of flowers here every year. A closer look at the details of the obelisk reveals relief scenes of the massacre and the funeral of the victims, as well as a lion of Judah.